


Just A Touch

by a_cumberbatch



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dean Winchester is a good brother, Friends to Lovers, Good Parents John Winchester & Mary Winchester, High School, Human Castiel, I honestly dont know how long this will be, John Winchester Not Being an Asshole, M/M, Maybe I dont really know, Nerd Dean Winchester, One Shot, Punk Castiel, Punk Castiel/Nerd Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester is an awkward middle schooler, Short One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates Castiel & Dean Winchester, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 11:16:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15971213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_cumberbatch/pseuds/a_cumberbatch
Summary: Sam just met his soulmate, and Dean is feeling the pressure. His Mark where his own soulmate is supposed to first touch him is still black. He's waiting for the day the handprint on his shoulder finally shows it's true colors.





	Just A Touch

Fingers traced the inky Mark, like it was something to be awed by. It was nothing special, one Mark like any other that showed where Dean's soulmate would first touch him. There was nothing unique to it, a handprint stamped on his tanned skin like a tattoo that shimmered faint colors in the blackness: pink or purple mostly, but sometimes blue if the light hit it just right. Everyone had different undertones that would begin to show themselves until they met their soulmate. The colors in Dean's Mark recently started to show, and he found himself fascinated by them. And even though his Mark was like everyone else, handprints were the most common type, Dean's fingers would trace over it when his mind wandered. He could feel it through the shirts he wore to cover it; he thought others could feel it too. Like if they looked at him hard enough, they would be able to see his biggest secret. Dean wasn't sure how his school would handle their student body vice president being bisexual. And he couldn't let them see the masculine handprint he hid under his clothes.

Not when he loved it so much.

▪▪▪

Sam came home the first night of school with his shoulders lit up in an explosion of greens and browns, deep earthy tones that had been trapped in layers of black for twelve years. Dean could see the fear in his eyes before he saw the Mark. Finding your soulmate so young was terrifying. Sam didn't know who he was yet, but he was already being told who he had to love. No one expected him to be Marked for another few years, not until high school at least, but Sam was coping the best he could. He was already a year younger than the other seventh graders where he skipped a grade, and now he was afraid because his soulmate was a guy.

"His name is Gabriel," Sam told Dean and their parents over dinner that night. "He told me to call him Gabe, but that feels weird. I don't know him, so calling him by a nickname feels too personal."

"Does he call you Sam?" Mary asked.

"He calls me Sammy." He blushed a dark red that, combined with his Mark, made him look like Christmas. "I don't know why."

"So what happened?" Dean asked him, not able to keep his eyes off the colors peeking out of his brother's tank top.

"We were paired up in English to do a short piece on each other. It was Mrs. Halle's way of getting to know us and get us talking to new people, even though I was fine talking to Jack and Garth." Dean suppressed a smirk at that. Sam was even more introverted than he was, and he didn't try to step out of his comfort zone. "But Gabriel came up to me and just threw his arm around my shoulder like we were best friends. He said, _"Hey, Sammy, looks like we're partners."_ And now that I think about it, those are pretty fitting first words."

John took a drink of his water, then asked, "How did you know it was him?"

"Well, he was the only one who touched my shoulders, and his arm was a golden color when I pushed him off of me." Sam couldn't help but laugh. "I make good first impressions, huh?"

"It runs in the family," Mary said sweetly, mostly to John. Sam and Dean had both heard their parents' Marking story a thousand times. The way Mary tripped into John, and he caught her. Mary had red and orange Marks on the outside of her arms and the palm of her hand; John had yellow Marks lining his forearms and one handprint on his chest. They always said they crashed into each other's lives, and the rest was history.

Dean scratched at his shoulder, painfully aware that he was the only one left in his family without a soulmate. Even his cousin Jo found hers before he did.

"May I be excused?" Dean asked. "I have a some work for biology that needs to be finished."

"On the first day of school?" John asked skeptically.

"It's mostly a pretest to see how much we've learned at the end of the year, but I need it finished by first period."

"Go ahead. Just be careful not to burn yourself out already."

"I won't, Mom."

When Dean got up to his room, he finished the last problems for biology before Skyping Charlie. "Okay, I officially feel like a failure."

"What's new?" She was doing her own work for biology, but she was almost finished so Dean would have her full attention in a moment.

"Sam was Marked."

That got her attention. "Are you serious? Little baby Sam?"

"Yeah. Baby Sammy found the love of his life before his big brother. As if I didn't already feel inadequate compared to him."

Charlie tucked her hair behind her ear, showing the band of reds and pinks the wrapped around her wrist. "You'll find him, Dean. Don't worry."

"I don't know if finding him is such a good thing."

She sighed. "Literally no one cares. I'm gay, and no one lost their shit when Dorothy was Marked with me. I know it feels like a huge deal, but you won't be kicked out of office for loving a guy, especially when the universe decided it."

"It's just-"

"Plus, I guarantee a boyfriend will get Amara off your back."

Dean laughed. "I doubt that. She's like a virus I can't get rid of."

"So when do you get to meet Sam's partner? You've got to tell me everything about them."

Dean lay in front of his computer, knowing this would be a long conversation tonight. "Maybe never. I don't know if Sam even likes this boy. He seems more annoyed by him."

"Well, that means nothing. I'm such a pain in the ass, but Dorothy still loves me."

"I don't know why."

"I'll hang up on you."

Dean held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay." He smiled. "You know I love you."

"I love you too, Dean."

"I don't know why."

▪▪▪

Dean had a chance to meet Gabriel much earlier than he expected. About three weeks into the school year, Sam asked to bring Gabriel, who he called Gabe now, home to work on their history presentation. Apparently, every teacher knew about their Marks and decided to pair them together as much as possible. That left Dean to watch them while their parents were at work.

"No making out when he gets here, okay? All work, no play," Dean teased. Gabe's older brother was dropping him off around four, and Sam was full of nervous energy. Dean wasn't helping matters.

"Like that's going to happen. It's not like we've even kissed yet."

"Yet?"

Sam turned a deep scarlet. He was wearing a T-shirt, so Dean couldn't see his Mark, but he still chuckled at the image of Sam all red and green. "Shut up." The doorbell rang; Sam jumped. "He's here. Are you going to hover all night?"

"Not if I don't have to."

"You don't," he replied quickly. Maybe too quickly. Before Dean could say anything about how Sam's feelings toward Gabe had changed, he was answering the door. "Yeah, come in. My brother's in here. Dean, this is Gabe and his older brother."

 _Dear God_ , Dean thought. _Sam's Gabe is Castiel Novak's little brother?_

"Castiel," he introduced himself, a little unnecessarily.

His voice came out smaller than it usually did. "Dean."

The Gabe that was always making puns and eating candy was the brother of the literal hottest guy in school. And he was standing in Dean's living room in all his glory. Half shaved head, tips dyed blue. Piercings and tattoos. Those skinny jeans that hugged his hips in all the right places. Dean felt cooler by standing next to him.

He could feel his face heat up when he realized he was staring and that Castiel had noticed it too. Castiel was smirking at him, his eyebrow piercing lifting in a distracting way. Dean held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Castiel's smile dropped, his fists clenching at his sides. Gabe quickly explained. "Sorry, Dean. Cas has this thing about touching people. I think he's got problems, but he's just a slight germaphobe."

Castiel rolled his eyes. "Plus," he said, his deep voice gruff and something Dean wanted to be lost in. He held up his right hand, the one Dean was going to shake. It was black, barely distinguishable colors showing through like they needed to be seen. "Gabe thinks I have trust issues."

"So does Mom, and she's a therapist."

"Aren't you supposed to be doing homework or some other bullshit?"

Sam pulled Gabe down the hall to his room, leaving just Dean and Castiel alone.

"I'm pretty sure he made me bring him here just so he can make a move on your brother."

"It's about time. I don't think Sam would ever make the first move, but he's been driving me nuts about Gabe."

Castiel smiled. It was impossible for Dean not to smile back. "Tell me about it. I was going to stab out my ears with a fork if I heard one more comment about how tall Sam is or how smart he is or how pretty his hair is." Castiel ran his hand through his own hair that Dean caught himself staring at. He needed to get a grip. Castiel was going to think he had issues. "This is awkward, but do you mind if I stay here until they're done? My parents only let Gabe come over if I did too. It's not that they don't trust you. They just haven't met you guys yet."

"Yeah, no problem. You know," he ventured, "I don't think it's weird that you don't like touching people. And if we end up seeing each other a lot because of our brothers, I'll keep my distance. I don't want to overstep my boundaries and make you uncomfortable."

"That means a lot. Are you usually very physical with people?"

"I don't know if you know Charlie Bradbury, but she doesn't exactly know what personal space is." Castiel nodded. "Well, with our friends, we like to hug and touch their arms and nudge shoulders and lay on each other. None of us really have boundaries with each other."

"Those are some friends."

"That probably sounds like a childish thing an underclassman would say."

Castiel shook his head. "It sounds like you all just care about each other. But I appreciate that you'll respect that I'm not like that."

Dean meant every word he said. He wasn't going to even get near Castiel if that's what he wanted. Even though Dean wanted nothing less than to run his fingers through Castiel's hair and feel his skin under his and kiss those full lips until Castiel was all he could think about. Dean cleared his throat to stop those thoughts before they got out of hand. "Do you want to watch something?"

"Sure. What's on?"

Dean glanced at the TV then down at his feet. "I've got to change it. I'm sure you won't like what I was watching."

"What is it? Don't tell me it's a soap opera. Say Yes to the Dress? The Wonder Pets? One of those cringy crime shows?" He held up his hands. "No judgement."

"I just started The Hobbit."

"An Unexpected Journey?" Dean nodded, slightly awed that he knew that. "Let's watch it. It's been a while since I've seen this series."

They turned on the movie, but all Dean could focus on was the senior who was sitting on his couch, looking like a punk rock Greek god. He wasn't going to survive this.

▪▪▪

"What do you think about Gabe?" Sam asked when he stepped away from the door, satisfied only when Gabe and Castiel had pulled out of the driveway. "He's pretty great, huh?"

"Sure. I only talked to him for a few minutes, though." Dean collapsed back onto the couch. "I'll tell you how I feel once I get to know him better."

"You'll like him. I know you will." Sam finished pacing and sat with Dean. "How was it with Castiel?"

Dean tried to find the right words that wouldn't make him sound lamer than he already was. He settled on, "It was fine."

"I'm sorry, Dean. I didn't know he was staying. Gabe told me that he was just dropping him off, but they made him stay last minute."

"Really, it was okay. I didn't mind."

Sam nodded, then breathed in sharply. "You like him, don't you?"

"What? No. Why would you think that?" His brother laughed at him while he tried to defend himself. "Okay, okay. He's cute, which is an understatement, really. I don't like him, though. I'm just attracted to him in a purely aesthetic manner."

"I'm sure it stops there." Dean hated how he was right. Sam was too smart sometimes. "It was probably weird with his no touching thing. You don't really know the concept of personal boundaries."

"What does that mean?"

Sam gestured to Dean's feet, which were tucked under Sam's leg. He slid them away from his brother with a guilty expression.

"Okay, I get it."

He quickly changed topics. "Gabe told me why he's like that." Dean was suddenly really interested in where this was going. "Apparently, one of their cousins was Marked and knew who it was, but that person wasn't Marked too. It was one of those rare cases where A has B, but B has C." _He's such a nerd,_ Dean thought, as if he could judge. "And their older brother kinda scarred Castiel by convincing him the same thing would happen to him. At first, he was just wary of touching people with his right hand, but it's gotten to the point over the years that he won't really touch anyone. It's mostly a coping mechanism, but he does have a thing about germs too because he gets sick pretty easily."

Dean felt bad for the guy. He was so hurt by the possibility that something terrible could happen, but he was making it impossible to find his soulmate as it was. Dean was getting upset just thinking about it. He decided that, while they had to spend time babysitting their brothers, he was going to do everything he could to make Castiel happy. After a life of fear, he deserved some joy.

▪▪▪

Weeks passed and blurred into each other. School blended in with homework and band and student council and family dinners. The only days that stood out were the ones when Castiel and Gabe came over. The first few times, Castiel stayed out of necessity and watched movies with Dean until he had to take Gabe home. Then, even after their families met and Chuck and Naomi were okay with Gabe staying by himself, Castiel stayed because he wanted to. He tried to act nonchalant about it in the beginning. "I'm only staying because I don't have anything else to do," he told Dean one Saturday afternoon. Dean was shocked that Castiel's weekends weren't spent at parties or the mall or whatever else popular teenagers did in their free time. Castiel's too cool persona dropped around Dean eventually, and he revealed that he just liked spending time with Dean. Movies spent in silence turned into long conversations and afternoons where Castiel helped Dean with biology and anatomy since he was really good with science, Dean was always surprised by him, and where Dean helped Castiel with his math work. Even though Dean wasn't taking the same math as him, he was only a year behind in his advanced class and could usually figure things out from Castiel's textbook. "I think you should just take over for Rockwell," Castiel would tease. They got to know each other while their brothers figured out their relationship, and Dean knew he was falling for Castiel.

▪▪▪

"I wish I could talk to you for five minutes without you zoning out," Charlie told Dean one day during lunch. "I can't believe we ended up in the same lunch as him." She punched him in the shoulder. "Stop staring."

Dean had to force himself to look away from Cas, who had yelled at him recently for still calling him by his full name. "It's too formal," Cas told him. "None of my friends call me Castiel." Dean was just ecstatic that he was one of his friends, no matter what he called him.

"What?" Dean asked, honestly not paying attention to a word Charlie was saying.

"Just tell him that you like him," Charlie sighed. "It's not that hard."

"Yeah, definitely not doing that."

Charlie kicked him under the table when he looked back at the full table Cas was sitting at. "Why not? Maybe you could focus if you got it off your chest."

"Charles, what if he's straight? What if he doesn't want to be with anyone other than his soulmate?"

"I didn't tell you to propose to him." When Dean gave her a pointed look, she shrugged. "What if he _is_ your soulmate? His Mark is on his hand."

Dean rolled his eyes. "So are a ton of other guys'. Last year, I counted six just in my gym class. He has the most common Mark. That doesn't mean he's my soulmate."

"You big baby." Dean scoffed at her, but he was definitely too afraid to confess to Cas. "I just don't get what the problem is. You like him, right?"

"Yeah, of course. But Charlie, he's a senior. A senior who has an eyebrow piercing and tattoos and is popular. He's way out of my league."

Charlie mulled that over for a minute. "Yeah, you're right. But one, you said he's a nervous train wreck and doesn't like to talk to people, so I'm sure he's perfect for you. Your _he's too cool_ thing doesn't even make sense because he's put up with you for this long. Two, it's an eyebrow piercing. Shut up. Three, he has a tattoo of bees on a honeycomb behind his ear. You say tattoos like he has satanic worship on his body. He's not scary like everyone thinks, and you know this. And four, you'll never know if he's gay if you don't at least ask." She stopped, seemingly done lecturing Dean. But then she started smiling. "If you don't tell him, I will."

Dean paled. "Don't you dare."

Charlie held up one finger. "One week, Winchester, and then I'm going to Castiel and telling him all about your crush."

It didn't feel like he had any other choice. Cas was going to find out about his feelings one way or another, so it would be better coming from him.

▪▪▪

Dean avoided Cas at all costs for the rest of the week. He even moved Sam and Gabe's date to Saturday rather than Friday to buy him some time. But Saturday came just as fast, and Dean found himself alone in his room with Cas.

"Is everything okay?" Cas asked. "You've been staring at that page for five minutes. Do you need some help?"

"No, I'm good."

Cas closed his history book. "Are you sure? You've been acting weird all day, and all week now that I think about it."

Dean looked at the wall beside him in an effort to dry the tears that were building in his eyes. "You're gonna hate me."

Cas tried his best to laugh, but he was too confused and worried. "Come on, Dean. I'm not going to hate you. We're going to be brother in laws at some point, so I have to like you at least a little."

Dean stared at his hands. "I don't want to be just that, though," he mumbled.

"What?"

Dean wasn't sure if Cas heard him or was just shocked, but he found a burst of courage and told him the truth. "I like you Cas. Like more than a friend."

Cas didn't say anything for a long time. To Dean, that was a clear rejection. That was Cas's way of saying no without hurting Dean by actually saying no.

"Nevermind Cas, just forget I said anything. I'm sorry. I made it weird."

"You think I'm going to hate you for that," Cas finally said.

"Well, yeah."

Cas wouldn't look at Dean. "I'm not; I like you too." His words sounded like a good thing, but judging by the way he said them and that he wouldn't look at Dean, there was more to what he was saying.

"But?"

Cas gave him a sad smile. "But I'd feel weird dating you knowing I wasn't your soulmate."

That stung more than Dean would like to admit. But what else was he expecting? He already got too much with Cas liking him too. That didn't make it any less painful, though. "Knowing I wasn't," Dean repeated quietly.

Cas reached out reflexively to touch Dean's shoulder in consolation. "Don't take it personally, Dean. We're just not meant to be together. I'm sorry."

Something clicked, and Dean smiled brighter than that situation called for. Cas looked at him like he'd lost his mind. Maybe he had. He could only hope he wasn't overreacting. "I'm not."

"Huh?"

Dean took Cas's hand gently, not exactly sure how he was going to react. He turned it palm up and almost laughed when he was right. Cas's hand was covered in colors, mostly green and blue but also hints of yellows and purples too. It was beautiful, an impressionist painting of spring to join the other works of art forever on Cas's body.

Dean rolled up his sleeve to show Cas the print he left on his arm: pinks, blues, and purples in full bloom that almost matched Cas's. Dean's fingers brushed over the colors once before Cas's took their place. His personal space issues were overpowered by his curiosity and absolute exhilaration that he had a soulmate. His brother was wrong about him.

"You can see why I wear long sleeves most of the time," Dean said with a small grin. "Mine is kinda noticeable. Don't you think?"

"I think it's beautiful."

Dean caught Cas's hand in the middle of a gesture and ran his thumb over one of the yellow lines. He looked up at Cas through his eyelashes, still handing onto his hand. "I'm hoping this means you'll reconsider our conversation a few minutes ago. You know, about feeling weird if we dated." Dean's face blushed dark enough that his freckles disappeared from his face. It was like he didn't mean to actually say all of that.

Cas didn't say anything to that, but Dean got the hint when Cas pressed his lips to his, gently touching his shoulder again like he couldn't believe any of this was happening. It felt like a dream, like something he wasn't lucky enough to actually have happen. But there they were.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Dean said breathlessly when they broke apart.

"Really? I didn't hear a question."

"You asshole," Dean chuckled, mostly to himself. "Cas, will you be my boyfriend?"

"What do you think?" Cas replied. Before Dean could guess his answer like the nerd he was, Cas kissed him again. Dean was never going to get used to this, but he was happy spending the rest of his life trying.


End file.
